Jubilee: Celebrating 25 Years of The Driskell Center
June 17, 2026
New Exhibition Marks the Silver Anniversary of Championing Black Art at the University of Maryland and Beyond
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
Jubilee: Celebrating 25 Years of The Driskell Center
College Park, Md. – The Driskell Center at the University of Maryland announces a landmark, yearlong exhibition celebrating a quarter century of collecting, documenting, researching, exhibiting, and advancing Black art. The University of Maryland established the center in the name of the eminent scholar, collector, and artist David C. Driskell (1931–2020), and it continues to operate in honor of his passion and purpose. Driskell’s personal collection of African American art formed the core of the center’s collection when it was founded in 2001. Since then, the center’s holdings have been enriched and expanded by the addition of hundreds of works across media. The center’s historic collection is a microcosm of more than 150 years of Black artmaking. Jubilee proudly celebrates The Driskell Center’s legacy and previews the bright future of this trailblazing American cultural institution.
Jubilee will feature 75 works from the center’s historic art collection that reflect some of the prevalent subjects, aesthetic trends, and concerns that Black artists across the African diaspora have engaged with from the early 20th century to the contemporary moment. Themes include the many languages of abstraction, the role of nature as muse, the importance of portraiture in Black visual practice, art as a spiritual practice, the dialogue between Black art and music, and the mediation of history.
“I am absolutely thrilled to return as guest curator for Jubilee. The collection has grown in unexpected ways, and it is an honor to revisit it now — to see the fruits of the garden that David Driskell so lovingly cultivated,” said Adrienne Childs, who served as the curator-in-residence of the center from 2005-2010. “I hope visitors can feel the dedication David poured into the field of African American art.”
Works from the collection will be contextualized through displays from the center’s archival holdings, which flesh out the stories the art can tell. Examples by robin holder and Stephanie Pogue underscore the center’s longstanding commitment to amplifying underrecognized Black women artists through exhibitions, scholarship, and sustained research engagement. The center served as the venue for each of these artists’ first retrospectives. Pogue’s India Pattern (1986), drawn from Driskell’s personal collection, was featured in her retrospective and contributed to the growing recognition of her place within the canon. holder is represented not only in the center’s art collection but also in its distinctive archival holdings, which preserve artists’ papers and other primary-source materials.
While primarily drawn from the permanent collection, select loans position the center within broader conversations in the evolving field. The inclusion of a new video from Jefferson Pinder’s 2022 performance Monumental reflects both the center’s longstanding engagement with local and university-connected artists and an expanded interest in practices that span performance, photography, and installation. A university alumnus and mentee of Driskell, Pinder earned degrees in theater (’93) and mixed media (MFA ’03), became the center’s first art fellow (2002-2003), and served on the university’s faculty from 2003 to 2011. Pinder’s career illustrates the enduring legacy of Driskell and the center established in his honor at the University of Maryland. Through its support of artists, scholars, and students, the center has helped expand the story of American art to center Black artists while serving as a site of inquiry, inspiration, and creative exchange for all.
Jubilee: Celebrating 25 Years of The Driskell Center recognizes an institution that continues to sustain and promote Black creativity.
On view at The Driskell Center gallery from September 13, 2026, to May 12, 2027, the exhibition will open with a public preview and reception on Friday, September 11, 2026, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., as part of the university’s NextNOW Fest.
Credits
Jubilee is curated by Adrienne L. Childs, who served as the Driskell Center’s curator-in-residence from 2005 to 2010, and who received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland’s Department of Art History and Archaeology. She is currently The Phillips Collection’s Senior Consulting Curator.
This exhibition is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council (msac.org), the University of Maryland’s Arts for All initiative, and The Driskell Center’s generous patrons.